Zelig Page #6

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I'll be asking Mrs. Fletcher--

to begin with...

to tell us something

about what it's like...

to raise a medical genius.

I might ask you about

the many sacrifices...

You've made to put your daughter

through medical school.

Speak right into

the microphones, please.

Sacrifices, we had none.

John was a stockbroker.

We had plenty of money...

and I came from a wealthy

Philadelphia family.

I'm sure that your daughter

always wanted to be a doctor...

ever since she could remember.

I don't think so.

I always thought she

wanted to be a flier...

Iike her sister Meryl,

and raise a family...

but she was a very moody child.

But a mother always

dreams for her child...

to have the success

your daughter has.

She was a very difficult girl.

Tell me about your husband.

I understand that he is

a simple businessman.

He must be so thrilled

and pleased...

to have his daughter

achieve such recognition.

John had problems--depression.

He drank.

Well, Mrs. Fletcher,

thank you so much...

for speaking with us today.

Here at San Simeon,

glorious dreamland...

of newspaper mogul

William Randolph Hearst...

celebrities from all walks

of society sun or play.

There's Marie Dressler

with Mr. Hearst.

Always a popular guest

at San Simeon...

Miss Dressler accepts a flower

from an ardent admirer.

Along with her is Marion Davies.

When she works, Miss Davies

is always dead serious...

But here,

at this fabulous playground...

She shows us her fun side.

There she is with

you-know-who--Charlie Chaplin...

always kidding.

Although New York

is 3,000 miles away...

Jimmy Walker appears through

Mr. Hearst's enchanted gateway.

Another New Yorker

is Leonard Zelig...

here shown clowning...

with everybody's

favorite cowboy--Tom Mix.

Won't Tony be jealous?

Tony is Tom's horse...

and we always thought

they went everywhere together.

There's that fellow

Chaplin again...

this time with Adolphe Menjou.

There's Claire Windsor

and Delores del Rio...

and a very charming

Eudora Fletcher...

chatting with Hollywood's

newest dancing sensation...

James Cagney.

And what have we here?

Only a beautiful lady

named Carole Lombard.

There's Dr. Fletcher

and Leonard Zelig...

hitting a few with Bobby Jones

on Mr. Hearst's golf course.

Unless Leonard can go back to

his old chameleon personality...

and turn into a golf pro,

I'd bet my money on Bobby.

But who cares,

if they're having fun?

Do you want to give the kids

of this country some advice?

I sure do.

Kids, you got to be yourself.

Don't act like anybody else...

because you think

they have all the answers.

Be your own man, speak up,

say what's on your mind.

Maybe they can't do that

in foreign countries...

but that's the American way.

I used to be a member

of the reptile family...

but I'm not anymore.

Zelig, no longer a chameleon,

is his own man.

His point of view

on politics, art, and love...

is honest and direct.

Though his taste is described

by many as lowbrow...

it is his own.

He is finally an individual,

a human being.

He no longer gives up

his own identity...

to be a safe part

of his surroundings.

His taste wasn't terrible.

He was a man who preferred

watching baseball...

to reading "Moby Dick"...

and that got him off

on the wrong foot...

or so the legend goes.

It was much more

a matter of symbolism.

To the Marxists

he was one thing.

The Catholic Church

never forgave him...

for the Vatican incident.

The American people...

in the throes of the Depression

as they were...

found in him a symbol

of possibility...

of self-improvement

and self-fulfillment.

And of course,

the Freudians had a ball.

They could interpret him

in any way they pleased.

It was all symbolism...

but no two intellectuals

agreed about what it meant.

I don't know if you can call it

a triumph of psychotherapy.

It's more like a triumph

of aesthetic instincts.

Dr. Fletcher's techniques

didn't owe anything...

to then-current schools

of therapy...

but she sensed what was needed

and provided it.

That was, in its way...

a remarkable

creative accomplishment.

When I think about it,

it seems to me his story...

reflected a lot of the

Jewish experience in America--

the great urge to push in

and to find one's place...

and then to assimilate

into the culture.

He wanted to assimilate

like crazy.

Eudora Fletcher's

life has also changed...

from this experience.

For her, fame and recognition

are empty rewards...

and do not live up

to the adolescent fantasies...

that prompted her ambition.

She and her patient

have fallen in love...

and it is no surprise

when she forsakes...

the upwardly-mobile

attorney Koslow...

and announces wedding plans

with Zelig.

It was wonderful to see

my sister and Leonard together.

She drew strength from him.

And they were so much in love

with each other...

and she looked happier

than she had in years.

I remember they decided

to get married in the spring...

and then, of course,

the roof fell in.

Two weeks before the wedding...

an ex-showgirl

named Lita Fox comes forth...

and claims that

she is married to Zelig.

She also claims

to have had his child.

It is an immediate scandal.

We were married a year ago.

He said he was an actor.

He sounded just like one.

I'm in show business, too.

We drove to Baltimore,

and we were married...

and I have a license

to prove it.

He had married her while under

a different personality.

When she read of the plans...

for his forthcoming wedding

to Eudora Fletcher...

she was mortified and

decided to take legal action.

Zelig says he will

fight it in court...

but public opinion begins

subtly to shift away from him.

Clever attorneys portray

Lita Fox as an abandoned woman.

The child is neglected, poor,

and fatherless.

Zelig has sold his life story

to Hollywood...

for a large sum of money.

When the scandal breaks...

the studio demands

its money back.

Zelig can only return half.

The rest has been spent.

Outraged, the studio gives him

half his life back.

They keep the best moments.

He is left with only his

sleeping hours and mealtimes.

Zelig is shaken by the scandal,

but it is only the beginning.

Now another woman

steps forward.

Helen Gray, a salesgirl

from a Wisconsin gift shop...

claims that Zelig

is the father of her twins.

She tells lawyers that he passed

himself off as a fur trapper.

Zelig has no recollection,

but admits...

it could have happened

during one of his spells.

It's the signal

for the floodgates to open.

He married me

at the First Church of Harlem.

He told me he was the brother

of Duke Ellington.

He was the guy

who smashed my car up.

It was brand-new.

Then he backed up

over my mother's wrist.

She's elderly

and uses her wrist a lot.

He painted my house

a disgusting color.

He said he was a painter.

I couldn't believe the results.

Then he disappeared.

That Zelig

could be responsible...

for the behavior of

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